*{http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/cal_letter.aspx Letter On The Calendar Issue]

*{http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/cal_letter.aspx Letter On The Calendar Issue]

*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08364a.htm Jerusalem (After 1291)]

*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08364a.htm Jerusalem (After 1291)]

Revision as of 17:55, February 5, 2012

His Beatitude, Photius of Alexandria was the Patriarch of Alexandria of the Church of Alexandria from 1900 to 1925. Before his election to the see of Alexandria, Photius was among the leading candidates for the see of Jerusalem.

Patr. Photius was born Photios Peroglou in 1853 on the island of Tinos. At the repose of Patriarch Hierotheus of Jerusalem in 1882, Photius was elected to the see of Jerusalem by the Holy Synod of Jerusalem over the other candidates: Bishops Nicodemus and Gerasimus. However, Imperial Russia opposed his election and convinced the Turkish Sultan to not issue a Berât approving the election. After his rejection, Photius returned to his monastery at Sinai.

In 1890, the Patriarchate of Constantinople persuaded the Sultan to depose Nicodemus, the incumbent patriarch of Jerusalem, and assign the Berât to Photius. Once again Russia opposed Photius as Patriarch of Jerusalem, and he was once again not approved by the Sultan as patriarch. Photius was subsequently elected Metropolitan of Nazareth.

In 1899, Metr. Photius was elected to the see of Alexandria and enthroned as Patriarch of Alexandria on January 22, 1900. During his reign, Patr. Photius reorganized the entire administration of the Patriarchate into seven ecclesiastical Provinces. He re-established the Metropolis of Ptolemais, renovated the Monastery of St. George in Old Cairo and founded the Patriarchal Printing Press, which published two periodicals “Pantainos” and “Ecclesiastikos Pharos”.

When, in the early 1920s, the Church of Greece contemplated a change to the use of the new calendar, Patr. Photius convened the Holy Synod of Alexandria which "reject[ed] every addition or any change of the calendar before the convocation of an Ecumenical Synod, which alone is capable of discussing this question, concerning which Ecumenical Council we propose a speedy convocation" as he reported in a telegram of January 15, (os) 1924 to the Patriarch of Constantinople. Significant in Patr. Photius' telegram is that he considered the issue one that needed to be discussed at an Ecumenical Council, not a "Pan-Orthodox Council".